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New water gate will save Morgan County ag producers money

System makes ditch safer

By DAN BARKER Times News Editor

Posted:
05/24/2013 02:59:21 PM MDT

Updated:
05/30/2013 08:48:20 AM MDT

Guests took a look at the new water diversion gates installed by the Fort Morgan Reservoir and Irrigation Co. on the South Platte River. They came for an open house to see how the new system works.
(DAN BARKER / FORT MORGAN TIMES)

A new water diversion system for the Fort Morgan Reservoir and Irrigation Co. benefits both local agricultural producers and the City of Fort Morgan.

Members of the irrigation company had a chance to look at the new system on the South Platte River at an open house Saturday. It consists of gates that rise and fall with air bladders, making running the gates much simpler and safer, said President Pete Krohn, who was there to answer questions from members.

The old system was largely handled manually, said Jim Boone of Ransom Boone Excavation, which built the new system. It had boards that acted as gates, which were removed by hand one by one, and a crank to open the gates. However, the boards could be fouled by sand and ice, making it very difficult and even dangerous to pull them out.

Also, when the river rises high or floods, trees, limbs and other debris would catch on the gates. Workers would have to cut them out, but that will rarely be necessary anymore, he said.

A simple computer system tells the gates to go up or down, and then debris will float down the river, Boone said.

The new system also prevents sand buildup and helps to prevent sand and debris from going into the irrigation ditch, he said.

Safety is a big issue, Krohn and others emphasized. One worker was lost while working at a Sterling dam during a flood, and his body was found washed away later.

It was a nightmare for workers during the winter when they tried to get the boards loose, Boone said.

However, cost is also an issue.

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Although the project cost the company about $1.4 million -- and a local grower paid roughly $1 million to tie his irrigation system in -- not having to clean debris from the ditch will repay the cost of the gates, Boone said.

This has really changed how the company manages the river and the ditch, he noted.

The City of Fort Morgan uses shares of the irrigation company water for its augmentation needs, said Brent Nation, who engineered the project.

A chuck wagon made from an 1896 farm wagon held the equipment to make lunch for those who came to the Fort Morgan Reservoir and Irrigation Co. open house Saturday in northwest Morgan County.
(DAN BARKER / FORT MORGAN TIMES)

The new system will maximize the amount of recharge water the city can use, and give the city more augmentation credits.

That water augments what is used for the city's parks and golf course, as well as use by the Fort Morgan School District and the Morgan County government, he said.

The project was constructed from October to the end of December. River water was diverted through a secondary riverbed made parallel to larger bed during a flood. That allowed the workers to construct the gates and rebuild the dam at the site, Boone said.

This is state of the art equipment, and Ransom Boone has put in a number of such gates over the years, starting with one for the South Platte Ditch Co. in 1995, he said.

Eats

Those who came to see the headgate could also enjoy a chicken-fried steak lunch from a chuckwagon made from a farm wagon constructed in 1896.

Lizzie II, as the business and wagon are called, was named after Elizabeth Ballew, who lived south of Fort Morgan.

"She was a true ranch woman,' said Sheryl Wailes, who owns the business with her husband, Rex, and lives near Bennett.

The wagon was originally sold in Bird City, Kan., made by the Bain company.

The Wailes family bought it in 2006 and converted it into a chuckwagon.

The undercarriage and the seats are still the original materials. It was stored inside, which kept it in good shape, Elizabeth said.

It was outfitted with things like bread pans and utensils from their extended families, often historical in their own right, she said.

Some boxes for the wagon were made of old grain bins from the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Much of the cooking is done in Dutch ovens, and the couple, along with Royce Pindell, competes in chuckwagon cookoffs. The peach cobbler they served won second place out of 26 wagons at one cookoff, Elizabeth said. They have competed in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Colorado.

During that time, the three have met some famous people, including cowboy movie stars who posed with the chuckwagon for photos, she said. People from all over the world have stood under the canopy of the wagon.